Mehdi Hakimi

Mehdi Hakimi

Biography

Mehdi Hakimi is the Executive Director of the Rule of Law Program at Stanford Law School. He develops and implements projects in Afghanistan, Iraq, Cambodia, and Rwanda. As Lecturer in Law, he also teaches seminars on rule of law and legal education.

Prior to joining Stanford, Mehdi was the Chair of the Law Department at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF). In addition to teaching various courses, Mehdi founded and directed AUAF’s Business Law Clinic Program as well as the university’s Moot Court Program.

Mehdi has worked with various organizations on international development and human rights issues. In collaboration with The Asia Foundation, he has designed and directed legal and educational programs in developing countries. Mehdi has acted as an expert witness on comparative law and foreign law issues in various jurisdictions including country guidance cases in the UK. His work has been published by or is forthcoming in the Yale Journal of International Law, Stanford Journal of International Law, Northwestern Journal of Human Rights, and other journals.

Hailing from Canada, Mehdi received his J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Ottawa and his B.A. (Economics) from Carleton University. A licensed attorney, Mehdi practiced litigation, international trade and business law at a major Canadian law firm.

Projects

Launched in 2012, the Iraq Legal Education Initiative (ILEI) is a partnership between Stanford Law School and the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS). The project presentes a unique opportunity to build a center of excellence for legal education in Kurdish Iraq.

Since 2013, the Rule of Law Program has partnered with the Rwanda Law Reform Commission to produce extensive policy analysis around the feasibility of a national Interpretation Law. In 2016-17, the Rule of Law Program will focus on producing materials that the government can use to train and sensitize legal practitioners, legislative drafters, and law students on the effects of the reform. Interested students should take the State-building and Rule of Law Seminar in winter quarter.

The Rule of Law Program has been working in Cambodia since 2015. The Program is working with Destination Justice, a nongovernmental organization, to produce an annotated Constitution, and formerly assisted the English Language Based Bachelor of Law Program at the Royal University of Law and Economics with academic accreditation.